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Monday, July 20, 2015

Is this the best the pro-European forces in Britain can do?

Jim Pickard and Sarah Gordon report in the Financial Times that three "senior figures" from the Conservatives, Labour and the Liberal Democrats" are angling, with the help of some Sainsbury money, to lead the pro-EU campaign in the forthcoming referendum.

Who are these titans?

Will Straw, an associate director of the Institute for Public Policy Research, is expected to lead the group as executive director.
Mr Straw stood unsuccessfully as Labour candidate in the Rossendale and Darwen constituency in May’s general election.

He has joined forces with Ryan Coetzee, a South African who was strategy director for the Lib Dems ahead of the election

The third political member is Lord Cooper, a former director of strategy in Downing Street under David Cameron. Lord Cooper joined the House of Lords last September and is co-founder of Populus, an opinion polling firm.

The journalists are tactful in not mentioning that Will Straw is best know for being Jack Straw's son, and that Ryan Coetzee's strategy led to the loss of 49 of the Liberal Democrats' 57 MPs.

You have to ask if this trio is the best the pro-European forces in Britain can come up with.